Chapo Table Lamp

chapo table lamp

Design Philippe Starck, 2014
Aluminum, PMMA
Made in Italy by Flos

"When Alec Guinness, James Stewart and Fred Astaire got home in the evening, with a sharp and elegant gesture they would throw their hat onto anything within reach. So why not a lamp?" -Philippe Starck

Throwing one's hat onto a stand is a seductive and slightly swankering masculine gesture from bygone times. It has an irreverent and retro charm reminiscent of a cinematographic image that is an inescapable part of our visual baggage. All this underlies the Chapeau table lamp, a playful gesture that becomes a three-dimensional and theatrical object, a lamp whose style, character and shape can change depending on the hat that is placed on top of it.

Table lamp providing direct light. Aluminium structure with photo-etched diffuser. Optical switch on the dimmable base with "Soft Touch" technology adaptor on plug. A USB socket on the base enables you to recharge the most common smartphones and tablets (max 1.5A). Includes hat shown in pictures or you can use your own.

Paris-born Philippe Patrick Starck (b. 1949) has a wide range of design, but is very well known for his consumer goods and interiors. He was educated in Paris at the École Camondo and founded his first design firm, which specialized in inflatable objects, in 1968. The next year, he became art director of his firm along with Pierre Cardin. He has worked both independently as an interior designer and as a product designer since 1975. After designing the private apartment interiors for French President François Mitterrand in 1982, his career began to climb significantly. In 1986 he joined Domus Academy Department of Design as an associate lecturer. Two of Starck's famous designs include stylized toothbrushes (1989) and a sleek juicer dubbed the Juicy Salif created for Alessi in 1990. The Juicy Salif has become an affordable and popular cult item.

The furniture manufacturers and entrepreneurs Dino Gavina and Cesare Cassina founded Flos which became one of the leading Italian light manufacturers in the second half of the 20th century. Its origins lay in the energy of Arturo Eisenkeil who, in 1959, was seeking to find applications for a new, plastic-based material that he was importing to Italy from the United States. Called cocoon, it was a spray-on plastic coating that Gavina and Cassina recognized as having potential for lighting design. From the outset, Flos established its reputation through its innovative lighting designs from Achille Castiglioni. The collaboration with Achille Castiglioni continued through the '90s, and in 1992 he introduced the "family of products" concept to the market with the Brera series. At the same time, Flos continued to scout for emerging talent at an international level. The first Philippe Starck lamp was produced in 1998, followed by the Miss Sissi lamp, Romeo Moon, and Archimoon series.